Tears in the Night
by PALADIN039
Summary: A calming midnight stroll turns into so much more when I visit a new place. How will I get home? Do even want to?  don't worry, no shipping or language will be present.


**Author's Note: I know I am in the middle of another Fanfic, but this one simply had to be written. Everything up to the walk is based on my actual life, so you can see how I would be sad enough to write this in the aftermath of my friend leaving. I will continue to work on 10,000 Miles Away, so don't worry. Hope you enjoy the fictionalized tale of my pain. (wow that sounds so emo, lol)**

I wiped another tear from my eye and waved goodbye again to my friend. This would be the last time I would see him for the next two years. My best friend, Nathan, was leaving on his mission for our church to serve as a missionary in Mexico. I would be going on a mission as well, but I have a heart condition which prevents me from doing so. The airplane door closed and I turned away and slowly made my way through the airport, oblivious to all that was happening around me. I didn't care. My best friend was gone. While we still plan on meeting back up and continuing our friendship once he gets back, people change. I would never admit it to him, but I was worried that we would grow apart. I am happy for him, I really am. We both always dreamed of serving as missionaries for our church when the time came, but now that the time has come... I almost hate him for leaving. I hate myself for thinking like that, but still...

I really have no reason to be so down about my life though. I have a wonderful family who loves me, plenty of good friends, I did well in high school, and have a decent job while I work on getting into college. I still feel out of place everywhere I go. I'm either too smart, or too fanciful, or just plain too nice. Nathan was the only one who really understood me, and I him (no homo). We were inseparable, always plotting our next scheme. We are planning on starting a video game designing business when he gets back, but who really knows what will happen.

The rest of the day is a blur in my memory. I came home, ate dinner with my family, took care of our dogs and cat, and hopped on to my computer. Once I sat at my computer, I realized that I had no idea what I wanted to do. Not just, 'Do I want to read some web-comics or should I watch some YouTube?' The realization hit me that I did not have a clue as to what I really wanted to do with my life. Here I was, a single, skinny 6'3" 19 year old with a dead end job and no real plan for his life. Should I go to college? Sure, getting scholarships would be no problem with a 32 on the ACT, but what would I study? My interest ranged from ancient grecco-roman smelting techniques to theoretical particle physics to creative writing. The saying that sums up my existence is, "A jack of all trades, but a master of none."

It is my general practice when I get all introspective like this to take a walk to clear my head. No matter that it was 2:34 in the morning. I dressed in heavy blue jeans and a black hoodie to keep me warm. After making sure my parents were asleep, I snagged my iPod touch, phone, and knife then quietly left through the garage. As I started down the dark road, I popped my headphones in and hit play. I always keep my iPod on shuffle because my tasted in music is ridiculously varied. One minute I might be listening to some intense dubstep by Skrillex and the next I may be in the throes of an Italian operetta. Still, it came as a surprise to me when the first song I heard was Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic singing the pony poky. The sickening joyfulness of the song made my stomach turn. Now was not the time for frolicking down the street. I felt more like lurking. I quickly jerked the earbuds out and paused the music, content to simply listen to the sounds of the night in Eastern Tennessee in the fall.

Wind, falling leaves, and the occasional passing car are what I expected to hear. Instead I heard something quite surprising. I could faintly make out what sounded like an overcharged plasma pistol from Halo. The sound was coming from behind me, and it was getting louder. I turned to look for the source of this noise, but I couldn't see anything. Nothing looked strange or plasma-related in any way, but the noise kept on getting louder. Intrigued I began walking towards the sound. Soon the noise grew to an almost deafening pitch, but I still didn't notice anything that seemed out of place in the night. I pulled out my phone to help light up the area, and then I definitely noticed it. A huge black hole in the air, hovering in front of me. It seemed to absorb all of the light in the area, and reflect nothing back.

Now, I had watched enough scifi and read enough fanfics to know what this was immediately: a portal. At the time, it seemed like perfectly good idea to abandon my family and friends for the possibility of going through a portal to a strange new land. Maybe it was the grief that clouded my mind from the loss of my friend, but I didn't hesitate. I dove into the black doorway into a new world.

I have no idea what it looked like when I went through, but for me I felt like I just dived forward and landed on the ground with no change. I rolled to my feet and looked around to see if anything had changed. Boy had things changed. Where a road used to be was only forest, and where there was forest, and even wilder forest awaited me. The strange thing was how it all looked familiar to me. I brushed myself off and realized that I looked... different. I was still wearing the same clothes, I still felt the same, but it was like I was... rendered in a different style. There was almost no detail to my clothes, I looked like a flash animation or something. It was incredible. I was a cartoon! I looked at my hand in the moonlight in wonder and immediately thought, _Is this an anime or a western cartoon? I wonder if physics work differently here... hmmm..._ Before I could try to test anything though I heard a blood curdling scream from somewhere close by shortly followed by a roar that shook my to my core.

I'm still not sure what possessed me to go charging through the woods towards the cry. I heard rapid footsteps and what sounded like huge ones chasing the smaller set. I burst into a clearing face to face with a manticore, and somewhere in the back of my mind, I recognised it. I pushed all thoughts aside for the moment and quickly flourished my blutterfly knife, spinning it around my fingers in a threatening fashion. _Oh please let those years of Kung Fu be useful here!_ The manticore backed up, eyeing me suspiciously, trying to determine if I was a threat or dinner. It seemed to decide upon the latter, lunging forward to swipe at my legs. I jumped back and sliced across its paw with the knife. It roared in fury, its pride more injured than its paw. The forest shook with its rage. The manticore's eyes flashed and it swung it's tail forward to attack me, but I pivoted away and caught the tail in one hand. Its eyes bulged out in a comical manner until I slashed its tail, injuring it severely and following the attack up with a quick kick to the nose. Apparently the manticore decided that I was not worth the work that would go into eating me, and it turned tail and ran off into the forest.

(**Quick Author's Note: I have been in a knife fight before, so I do know what I am talking about. It was not against a manticore though, but much of the techniques I used could still be applied.)**

I took a moment to catch my breath after the brief, though intense, fight. I turned around to see who it was I had saved in the first place and had to restrain myself from face-palming. It was impossible not to recognise the blue unicorn with a cape covered in stars. Lying on the ground in shock was the "Great and Powerful" Trixie from the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. On the bright side, I knew where I was. On the other hand, I now had to interact with my least favourite character from the show.

Trixie stared at me in horror, "G-g-get b-b-b-back!" she stammered as she stood up. My head tilted to one side, confused for a moment before I realized that she viewed me as a threat. I mentally pictured my self from her point of view. A tall dark hooded figure bursts from nowhere, incapacitates a manticore single handedly and is now approaching her with a bloody knife. Before I could say anything to calm her down though, her horn started glowing, and she shot a bolt of lightning directly into my chest. I looked down at my chest where the bolt had struck, expecting to be in pain or on fire or _something_, but there seemed to be no reaction at all. Trixie's horror redoubled at the apparent ineffectiveness of her attack. _So I'm magic proof?_ I thought to myself. Upon realizing this, I decided to have a bit of fun.

"It looks at if you aren't so 'great and powerful' afterall, eh Trixie?" I used my best ax-murder voice to ask this. Did I mention I REALLY don't like Trixie?

"What are you going to do to me?" Trixie squeaked. She was white as a sheet of paper. Man, I was loving this. It wasn't that I hated Trixie, I just thought she needed to be knocked down a few notches.

"I will do nothing to you, as long as you... cooperate," I started walking slowly toward her. "As you can see, your magic does nothing to me, so it would be in your best interest to do so." She nodded furiously and cowered down even more. "I need you to point me in the direction of Ponyville. I have... business there." It was a good thing I was a brony, or I would have no idea what to do in this situation. "This situation" being teleported to a different dimension with no apparent way back.

"W-w-what kind of b-b-business? You aren't going to hurt anypony, are you?" By this point I was looming directly over her.

I tried my best, I really did, but I just couldn't hold it in anymore. It started out as a snicker, but quickly grew to a chuckle. I literally fell on the ground I was laughing so hard. Trixie's confused face just made me laugh even harder. Finally I gained some semblance of composure and said, "Heheheh, you should see the look on your face right now! Priceless!" Trixie looked like she was about to have an aneurysm from her brain trying to comprehend what just happened. "I'm not here to hurt you or 'anypony.' I am just looking for Twilight Sparkle and her friends." She sat there stammering incoherently for a moment before I continued, "You're welcome by the way. For saving your life, that is. Also, you may want to avoid areas where manticores live in the future."

Trixie shook herself, still trying to wrap her head around the past few minutes, "Thank you for saving me, and Ponyville is that way," she pointed off behind her, "but what are you?"

I straightened up and responded, "I am merely a lost traveler. I thank you for your help, and wish you good luck in your future endeavors. Though, you may want to tone down your bragging a bit."

"Wha- but how do you know that I brag? For that matter, how do you even know my name?"

"We all have our secrets... And I'll be off now. Kthanksbye!" I strode past her into the woods waving over my shoulder as I ducked into the shrubbery. _Hopefully I can make it to Ponyville before sunrise. I'd rather not attract a crowd while entering Ponyville. _I continued onward through the dense woods for around an hour before I reached the edge of the forest. In the distance I could make out the shapes of a small village, which I presumed to be Ponyville. _Which of the ponies should I introduce myself to first? Applejack would buck first and ask questions later. Same for Rainbow Dash, probably. Fluttershy and Rarity would probably faint. I have NO CLUE how Pinkie Pie would react, but it would probably end with a party. I guess it will have to be Twilight. Ugh, I hate abiding by cliches._ With that figured out, I double checked to see if the coast was clear. Seeing that it was, I sprinted across the open field until I got to what appeared to be the back of the Carousal Boutique. A few minutes of sneaking later, and I was standing in front of the library. I immediately ruled out knocking on the front moon was getting pretty low in the sky, and I was getting tired too. I decided the best approach would be to sneak into the library and confront Twilight at some point the next day, preferably after I had taken a nap. I worked my way around the huge tree till I found a spot I could start climbing. I have always loved climbing trees, and I quickly conquered this one. After a bit of searching, I managed to find a spot in the branches that was totally out of sight, and stable enough for me to sleep on. I pulled my hood down over my eyes and fell asleep, wondering what tomorrow would bring.

****END CHAPTER ONE****


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